Effervescent Ainsley Harriot sent the message: “Happy 50th birthday to the Tante Marie School of Cookery. “The school has a really impressive history and I had a fabulous time when I filmed there for Saturday Kitchen. Not only is it a great school, but everyone I met was really kind and helpful. Here’s to the next 50 years.” Ross Burden, former model and self-taught chef who stars with Ainsley on Ready, Steady, Cook, sent anniversary wishes: “The Tante Marie School of Cookery is one of the finest establishments for training in the culinary arts I have ever worked with. “It has created a unique blend of hard work, professionalism and friendliness which makes it the first choice for career cooks and enthusiastic amateurs alike.” Tante Marie, founded in 1954, is now the largest and longest established independent cookery school in the UK. Many of its cordon bleu graduates are able to work in exotic locations worldwide, from palaces to ski resorts, film sets to top restaurants and private yachts. The school’s principal Marcella O’Donovan, who also celebrates her half century this year, says she believes it is due to the special set of contacts created and nurtured by the Tante Marie professional team that keep the prestigious job offers flowing for students. Now head-quartered in a handsome Victorian villa in Carlton Road, Tante Marie began life as a luxurious “finishing school” teaching flower arranging and dressmaking alongside cookery. It was situated above the British Gas showroom in central Woking. It quickly outgrew its premises and moved to its current site in 1960. Marcella said: “Today it is a respected training ground for the world’s top cooks, as well as fine environment for enthusiastic amateurs to hone their skills in a friendly atmosphere.” Founded by distinguished cookery writer Iris Syrett, Tante Marie is named after a legendary French cook who was the counterpart of the British Mrs Beeton. The school has always been in private family hands and has had only three owners throughout its increasingly distinguished history. Marcella added: “Despite its growth and success, Tante Marie remains a friendly, caring establishment whose exceptionally high standards have set culinary benchmarks for the past five decades. “It began with only 20 students and now welcomes more than 500 people a year who take a combination of its longer-career courses, gap-year courses enabling students to find employment before starting university and various leisure courses for the keen amateur. “A variety of students pass through the school aged from 16 to the over 60s and, for the majority, it is a life-changing experience. “Some use it as a great springboard for an exciting and international career in catering and others as a means of gaining an essential life-skill.” Many graduates from the Tante Marie School of Cookery have set up their own catering companies or opened their own restaurants. Others work in some of the most famous restaurants in Britain such as The Waterside Inn at Bray, Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, the Savoy, L’Ortolan, Le Gavroche and Rick Stein’s seafood restaurants. Others have chosen a slightly different direction such as food photography, food styling, recipe testing and development. “Students from overseas have returned to their own countries to exploit similar opportunities,” says Marcella. With her ambition to re-acquaint the British public with the real skills of cooking that are often lost in today’s fast food and microwave culture, Marcella has introduced a number of new short courses. She points out they are easily incorporated into a busy lifestyle and are available to anyone regardless of age and experience who has the desire to cook. At St Catherine’s School, near Guildford, she has also devised a new essential skills course. It is aimed to instil a love of cooking in young people and to equip them with the skills which may enable them to secure short-term gap-year employment or a long-term career in this booming services sector. For details of full time, shorter and modular courses at Tante Marie, including new modules on easy entertaining and the secrets of sauces, visit www.tantemarie.co.uk. Or you can call 01483 726957.